Which to use
“cause” and “cese” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #332
- “cause” frequency rank
- #47,212
- “cese” frequency rank
- 47544
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cause | cese |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qui fait qu’une chose est ou s’opère. | Cessation, action de cesser. |
Where the eye mixes cause and cese
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cause vs cese
A purely visual mix-up. cause (\koz\) and cese (\ˈθese\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cause is recorded at frequency rank #332, classified as anoun, pronounced \koz\. cese is at rank #47,212, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈθese\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 47544, this pair ranks #186,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cause vs cese
Shared letters: ces. Private to "cause": au. Private to "cese": -.
"cause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "cese" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cause" and "cese" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cause" or "cese"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cause" and "cese" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cause" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cese" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #186,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cause" and "cese" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cese". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #186,114 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.